Appy Appy

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Drifting away with the clouds

Living eternally in the vaccuum

Smiling without knowing

Breaking out of the glass walls

Somersaults in the mind

Happiness in the heart

Eager anticipation

Just like that

For once, for ever

Happy Anniversary to you T

Happy Happy to you V

Happy Diwali to us

I am down with the phone upgrade flu

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I am in that phase of life again.

Where the quest for a new phone becomes endless.

Multimedia or Business phone?

Touch or No Touch?

Found a useful article in the multimedia phone category, you can view it here

The website itself is very informative and I like the precise reviews in common man language. Check it out http://mymindsays.co.cc

You know you are Mommy material when

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You realise there must be a zillion kids in your neighbourhood.
You get more excited looking at the kids section in the mall rather than the ladies section
You start waving and talking to kids who spare you a glance
You time all your activity to last between two feeds
You expect your husband to be your personal assistant
You look forward to coming home early
You exchange kid stories with every parent you meet
You share best practice swig-taking guidelines unabashedly
You start socialising with the neighbourhood ladies only to get your kid acquainted with theirs
You become a speech and action policeman at home
You dont cringe when changing a poopy diaper while you are half way through your meal
You take washing poopy diapers as naturally as you would take bathing
You become a Schumy paced work doer at home
You become a bedroom singer instead of the bathroom variety
You start packing a baby bag as soon as you hear plans of a romantic dinner outing
You think you know more about raising kids than your mother
etc...

The movie 13B reviewed

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and found to be a sadistic revenge wreaked on the non-suspecting, highly-critical, higherIQ-claiming mass of people who condone Indian TV soaps (anyone tell me why it is called this instead of the self-explanatory "serial" these days?) as stupid, no-brainer and fool-making medium in the garb of entertainment.

If one wants to see the positive side to it -
It is also an anticipation generating mechanism. It's the perfect example of "Hope". It instills in the audience a want to live and ofcourse wait for "what happens next" albeit in someone else's life. Maybe the TV soaps have been able to achieve what God and one's inner self couldnt achieve - hanging on to the thread of Hope?

I've grown up? Ja?

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All through my career I have been a firm believer that feedback from juniors, peers and managers should come voluntarily and not from asking. I can extrapolate it to my life as well and can claim with enough honesty that I have never tom-tom'ed my abilities and achievements ever. Getting back to career, my belief was so strong that my year end self-appraisal used to be the briefest. It took a lot of goading from my managers to put down all the achievements (to the last small thing) in a categorical manner. I did not realise the potential of it back then but most of the managers do not keep a list of all their direct reports' doings. He/she will only add on to what the employee writes as his/her achievement and rate the employee. So the employee is the loser if he/she doesn't jot down all the points explicitly since in a good enterprise all the past performance documents are available for view by current managers and potential recruiters within the company. Ofcourse it took me time to understand this nuance.
It still takes an emotional toll on me to fill the gaps and holes in the self-appraisal with a lot of positive adjective mortar. At the end of the exercise I am left feeling like a total narcissist which I absolutely abhor. There is no need for me to expound on the fracas in my mind when I have to repeat everything at the actual "meeting" which would decide my rating.
Getting back to work after maternity leave has not been an easy transition for me. There are lots of issues to be resolved and its easy to get depressed. I resolved not to wallow in self pity (I dont know why but I seem to use this phrase a lot) and instead turn to positivities. I decided to find out what people I have worked with think about me. And the easiest way to do that was to ask for recommendations on LinkedIn, a site which I have come to appreciate now. A virtual war was won with the repressive inner self and a new confidence has started taking birth. There is a chance of it dying at birth if nobody responds but what the h*** I tried. Positive. La la la.

I'll do my crying in the rain

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Glum mood
Inner storm
Buckets of water waiting near eyes
Love this song : A-ha's Crying in the rain
(I wish there was a utility to post songs instead of links)

I'll never let u see the way my broken heart is hurting me
I've got my pride and I know how to hide all my sorrow and pain
I'll do my crying in the rain...

Ironically my mood has nothing to do with my heart.

Dear Mr.Obama

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On becoming the President of the USA, I congratulate you for giving the world visually tolerable images of the so called "world's most powerful man" which was hitherto a very depressing affair given the fact that the person who occupies your esteemed office takes up half the bandwidth of world television broadcast.
You have lent a mighty voice not only to the generally intelligent folks of the United States but also to some shy denizens of our great country India, in particular to some narcissistic individuals. You may not be aware of the various appellations in our great land but one would definitely interest you – Obamma. We, in our locality (details of which I don’t mention for fear of brickbats) are pleased to inform you that we have a lane bearing your name or nearly so. Last week we named one of the by-lanes in our locality as “Obamma Lane”. The bearer of the name “Obamma” was definitely shy about her name being painted in bold, font 400 and bright blue on the signboard since it is not one of the most fanciful names we have in modern India to the extent that one might hear a snicker or two. This was until you came along. You have increased the significance of her name . I don’t subscribe to the school of thought which creates biases on the basis of a name because I do believe “What’s in a name?” but it gives me great joy to gratify you by informing you that your name itself is becoming a kind of status symbol.

Yours’ Sincerely,
A Wellwisher

Happiness comes from Banana

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There is many a thing that the poo-poo-pee-pee kid can teach an adult. One of the lessons I learnt yesterday was a reminder to me of all the simple things in life one forgets as one trudges along grumbling about everyday life.
Yesterday dotzy was subjected to the shock treatment of gunshot. I categorically deny us having anything to do with terrorists except when its meal time and I have to terrorise my dotzy with a bowl and spoon until she finishes every last drop. We decided that it was time to get dotzy a pair of earrings and set out to accomplish this yesterday morning. One small hitch though - she did not have holes in her ears yet. Nowadays the horrifying process of punching a hole through one's cartilage has been given a painless updation in the form of a gun. The "gun" is an ingenious contraption which punches a hole, inserts a stud from the front of the ear and clamps the stud from behind the ear all in a matter of one sec and one well-aimed shot. Well, that is if your kid is sitting still, not crying and more importantly not being jerky. As can be expected out of a wee 7 month old, a choked howl-cry started as soon as the first shot was felt and lasted for a full 3 minutes after the second shot ended. As soon as the studs were in place I whisked her outside onto the pavement, in order to get the villain hole-puncher out of her line of sight. But that dint deter her one bit and she continued to howl and look at me balefully and make my soul shrink with guilt. At that moment an angel swooped down on us in the form of a banana seller. All she had to do was cluck at dotzy and offer her a nice yellow banana. Dotzy (she seems to be well mannered beyond her age or as suspicious as a spy already) after a lot of encouragement from me accepted the gift through her tears. The very next instant the pain, the shock, the tears were all abandoned in the joyful vigorous swinging of the banana in her hand. The sun was back and shining on her sweet face and there were no words with which I could thank the banana lady. I would have walked away with overwhelming gratitude had T not nudged me to tell me that I could thank her better by buying bananas from her.
Happiness comes from a banana...

Gandhigiri and the cellphone

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As the competition hots up I decided to blog about it to gain mileage among my sympathisers. T and me are into Gandhigiri these . So dotzy's attempts tp vandalise the cellphone is met with a smile and the offer of another. Want to know why? Here's my side of the story...

Background :
2007 - It was time for me to replace my aging Nokia. I had been waiting for more than a year for the perfect phone. Then came the Abhishek Bachchan Motorokr ad. I feel like a moron now but full credit to the advertisers for the campaign. It was uber cool. A groovy and humorous story line was all I needed to make up my mind (I dont want this post to be a confessional about how big a a fan of AB Baby I am) and I was hooked. I started dreaming of Rokr being the most appropriate successor to the sturdy (trust me, I have stress tested it to the max) 3310. I went ahead and bought the phone via a friend who works at Motorola (I am a sucker for discounts) and discovered with shock that the wireless stereo headset (the main reason for buying the phone, yeah yeah not AB Baby) was out of stock. I was thus stuck with a phone without its coolest feature. That is not the worst part though as I later bought one and found it to be inconvenient to use. I feel technologically challenged with the Rokr because I do not understand Linux which is the OS on that phone. I have never been able to install any application on it simply because I have not understood how. Looking through innumerable number of Motorokr forums is not helping my brain. I also discovered with time that the screen scratches easily in the hands of a not so delicate user like me. I am now at the end of the disillusionment tether. I want to buy a new phone and am waiting for the perfect successor!

Cut to 2009 :
My dotzy has made drumming her new hobby. She drums on and with anything. Give her a soft toy, a rubber book, her own hand or a cellphone! She goes on her "Atha atha atha" ("hit hit hit" in baby lingo") routine relentlessly and with more vigour with each hit. She has to just see a cellphone lying aroung and she will swiftly glide to it and grab it. Last week I realised that this could be a God-sent to get rid of my phone. How many hits on the floor does it take for a cellphone to stop working? I dont know, am still counting at 220. But to my dismay I found another competitor in the endeavour. T! He also has decided that he wants a new phone and is keen to expose dotzy to variety! So in an evil usage of Gandhigiri we voluntarily submit our phones to the rowdyism of dotzy.
If she hits one cell we calmly and gleefully show the other.
Will keep you posted about who wins.
Happy Valentine's Day T ;)
( I shall cherish these times when my dotzy couldnt tell anyone the truth)

A day for love - coloured with Pink this time

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So Pink is the flavour of the season for this valentine's day. Especially if you are sending a gift to the Sri Ram Sene and the gift happens to be one's underpants.

You can find all the details at the Pink Chaddi Campaign Blog

Do it for the fun of it. Its the best way to dispose off all those overused innerwear you might have hoarded!